Kidnapped: Leopold's Story
by JinxedClarinet
Summary: The story of Kidnapped written for Leopold Cain fans.  Novelization of Kidnapped showing only scenes that have Leopold Cain.
1. Episode One

**Disclaimer: I do not own Leopold or any other characters or plots in this show.**

**Author's Note: Though most of the events depicted are things that happened within the course of the show, I have added a few things of my own in order to make the story flow a little more. I have created this story using all events involving Leo excluding the visions of Leo that are seen by some characters and including all flashbacks. Also, a few events have been rearranged based on their actual time of occurrence rather than their placement in the episodes. This whole story will make a lot more sense to all who have seen the show Kidnapped in its entirety. Please enjoy.**

Early in the morning on March 15 in a penthouse in New York City:

Leopold lay face down in the pool practicing static apnea. All of his focus was kept on not breathing as time ticked by and he tried to beat his own record and the record of Martin Stepanek.

As he neared three minutes his sister Alice and bodyguard Virgil appeared at the edge of the pool. Alice was calling his name.

Leo waited for his breath to run out and then, after checking the time on his watch, burst from the pool and pushed his hair back away from his eyes.

"Mom says you have to come now," Alice told him.

He climbed out of the pool and walked into the bathroom where his school uniform was waiting for him. After changing quickly he walked into the kitchen with his backpack and the latest book that he was reading.

"Morning, Leo." Conrad Cain, his father, said as he headed for the counter to take his medicine.

"Don't call me Leo; it makes me sound like an old man." He responded, slightly annoyed that his father insisted on using his nickname instead of his full name.

"Watcha reading?" Conrad asked.

Leopold swallowed his pill with milk straight from the carton. "_The Origin of Consciousness on the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind._"

Ellie, his mom, crossed the room to introduce him to the times reporter who was there to do a story on a morning with the rich family. "And behind all this wet hair is our son Leopold." Ellie pushed some of the hair off of his forehead as he reached down to put the milk back on the counter.

His phone rang with the sound of a hard rock song. He pulled it from his pocket and answered the caller with the words, "five minutes," and then hung up.

"Don't talk on the cell phone in the house," Ellie scolded him in French. "It makes you look like a gangster."

"It's cool to look like a gangster these days, mom." Leo looked at her with a slightly mischievous grin.

…

Leo walked down the hallway toward the dining room with his father's hand resting on his back.

Virgil stood in a corner and waited for his young charge as the family had their picture taken for the article at the table. Afterwards, Leo put on his jacket and the two of them headed outside to the car with the driver waiting.

"How long today?" Virgil asked.

"Three minutes, twelve seconds. The world record for static apnea is eight minutes, six seconds; held by Martin Stepanek of Czechoslovakia. What's the longest you ever held your breath for, Virgil?"

"As long as I had to."

"My dad says it's stupid; that I should give it up."

Virgil held open the car's door for Leo. "What do you say?"

"I tell him not to hold his breath." Leo climbed in and Virgil closed the door.

After Virgil had entered the car he told the driver, "Let's go." Upon which the car door was re-opened by an outside force.

Virgil's reflexes were instant as he reached inside his coat for the gun concealed there.

"It's only Alfred," Leo held up a hand to stop Virgil as a younger boy entered the car dressed in the same uniform as Leopold, "His driver broke down, we're giving him a lift."

"Morning," Alfred said in general greeting, then turned to Leo to smiling.

"Hey," Leo smiled back and then proceeded to play a game from a playstation he had pulled from his backpack.

The car stopped suddenly and violently as the car drove into a crash site. "Great," the driver exclaimed sarcastically as he hopelessly banged his hand on the steering wheel. It was clear that they were going to be stuck for a while.

A Police officer stood directing traffic not too far away. He glanced at the car and then proceeded to walk toward it.

Virgil tensed as the cop neared the vehicle, but reached into his coat too late as the officer pulled out a gun and shot the driver. Blood splattered on the windows as Virgil got out of the car, yelling at the kids in the back to stay down and not move.

Virgil shot down all of the misplaced people on the scene, but failed to hit the sniper who was standing atop one of the larger buildings in the square. He was shot in the back and left bleeding on the pavement.

Leopold and Alfred watched the scene in horror. After Virgil was shot Leo told Alfred to "come on" and opened the door to get out of the car.

That was when the fake officer came up and slammed the door shut, blocking Leo inside. He then entered through the driver's door, pushed the body of the driver out of the way and drove off.

…

About a year before all of this happened; Leopold was walking home from school through Central park. As he neared the edge of the park a man who he didn't know stopped him and asked him if they could have a talk.

Leopold was wary of the man and tried to avoid him, but he insisted on talking to the young teen.

"Listen, Leopold," The man had said to him, "I'm coming for you. It won't be today, or tomorrow, it might not be anytime soon at all, but I will come for you."

Leo ran the rest of the way home and told his parents.

His mother was disturbed by the whole thing and distressed at her son's state of alarm. A day later, she introduced her son to Virgil, his new bodyguard.

At the time Leo was sitting on his bed, drawing pictures of the man who he had seen, a man who he called Joseph.

"What are you drawing?" Leo's new bodyguard asked him.

"Someone I met. I call him Joseph."

"That seems like a lot of pictures of the same dude."

"If I keep him here," Leopold said, pointing to the paper, "he doesn't get stuck up here." He pointed to his head, a place that was currently plagued with images of the man in the park. "He told me he was coming for me." Leo handed Virgil one of his better drawings, "So you'll be ready."

Virgil then promised himself and the teen that on the day that Joseph came, he would be ready.

…

Leopold was driven to a large warehouse building where he was forced out of the car by two men. His face was covered by a ski mask with the eye holes sewn shut and he was wearing handcuffs. He was dragged into the basement of the building and the men strapped him into the chair there. They pulled his mask off as they walked away.

"What's going on?" Leo yelled as the men left. "Where's Alfred? Who are you and what do you want?"

Later the handcuffs were taken off as were his jacket, tie, shoes, and socks. His hands had been strapped down to the chair and he was also tied around his upper arms, torso and stomach.

The door squeaked as a man walked through and began his descent down the stairs.

"Hello?" Leo called to him questioningly.

The man was dressed in all black and his face was covered by a mask that had a visor over the eyes. He moved swiftly down the stairs and opened a laptop sitting on a table that was in the room.

"Hello?" Leo asked more loudly this time as the man began to type on the computer. He completely ignored the boy tied to the chair.

"What do you want?" Leo called to him loudly and violently. The man looked up as if startled and headed toward the boy.

He leaned over and leaned directly into Leopold's face. Leo looked back. He would've been able to stare directly into the man's eyes if the mask didn't cover his face.

"You did this to me." Leo said to the man with spite and a hint of anger in his voice. "What do you want?"

The man continued to stare without saying a word.

"I just wanna go home, please."

A cell phone rang and the man walked back over to the table to answer it.

"Yeah, I'll have the kid ready." The man spoke into the phone. "Flight's at 1:00. T.E.T." The man walked away with the phone in his hand.

As soon as he had gone, Leopold began scratching the letters T.E.T. into the wooden chair with the latch of his watch. Though he had no idea what those letters meant, he knew they were important and anyone who saw them might be able to figure out that he had been there and where he was going.

…

Leopold was awakened by the light of a single, bare bulb in a small room. He was lying on a bed in the corner.

A man with gray hair walked in. As Leo rolled over groggily and opened his eyes, the man's hand came down over his mouth. Leo widened his eyes in terror as the man shook a single finger at him, letting him know that he should keep quiet.

…

Leopold lay on the bed on his stomach, looking at the ground when another, different man walked in.

This one was Latino and had black hair and dark eyes and skin. He handed Leo a glass of milk and a pill. Leo took them both from him and sat up, sticking the pill in his mouth and swallowing some of the milk.

The man watched, hands on hips and left as soon as he was sure the pill had been swallowed.

Leopold watched him leave and as soon as the door closed behind him, he spat out the pill and hid it under the mattress of the bed where it joined two others.

…

The fifteen-year-old now sat on the bed, his hands clasped in front of him.

The door opened and the Latino man walked in holding a microwavable dinner. He handed it to Leo along with a plastic fork and knife. Then he left.

Leopold looked down at the knife, an idea beginning to form in his head.

…

The room was dark and only a small amount of light shone in from a barred up window.

Leo had crawled underneath the bed and was using the plastic knife to cut away at the edge of the paneling that covered a small section of the wall.

The knife snapped in half. Leopold looked up, startled, as he heard the sound of the lock on his door being opened.

The Latino man stepped through the entryway to find Leopold sitting on his bed and eating the dinner that had been given to him.

**Author's Note: That's all for episode one. I've also added in a scene from episode nine (shown as a flashback of when Leo is in the warehouse basement) and a scene from episode eight (when Virgil had a flashback of when he first met Leo).**


	2. Episode Two

Somewhere in Mexico on March 16:

Leopold was on the bed lying on his back when the door opened and the Latino man entered. Leo sat up as the man leaned down to pick up his trash from dinner the night before.

"My name's Leopold, people call me Leo."

The man stood up and began to walk away.

"I heard the other guy call you Otto, is that your name?"

The man paused and then walked out, closing the door behind him.

Leopold reached under his pillow and pulled out the knife, running his finger gently along the blade.

…

Leo chipped away under the bad until he had freed the paneling from the wall. He pulled the edge up and caught a glimpse of the outside.

He pulled up the rest of the paneling and squeezed himself through the hole he had made. Then he made a break for it.

…

Otto walked into the room holding a bottle of pills. "Time to take your medicine."

He was horrified when he pulled the bed aside and found a hole in the wall that was just big enough for the kid to escape from. He raced outside and hopped in a car to begin his chase.

…

At the age of seven, Leopold was found drowning at the bottom of the pool by his father. After diving into the pool to save his son, Conrad performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to make him breathe again. Ellie watched, fearing her son would die.

After Leo's breath was restored to him, his parents rushed him to the hospital just to make sure he was okay and to find out why exactly he had drowned when he was a perfectly good swimmer.

The doctors there then informed the devastated parents that their son had a heart problem and would not live unless he had a heart transplant. The sick boy was placed at the bottom of a long list of people who were waiting for the exact same thing.

After a long time waiting a heart was found, seemingly by a miracle. On March 24, Leo was given the surgery that saved his life.

…

The boy pulled himself up on top of a building and began running on the rooftops. He traveled through the unfamiliar territory as fast as he could.

He was looking for someone who could help him, or better yet a group of people.

A group of young Latino men walked down the street. Leopold ran toward them.

"Help! Help! My name is Leopold Cain. I've been kidnap-"

He was cut off when one of the men punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground.

Leopold looked up helplessly as the men formed a circle around him.

One of them pulled out a knife and pointed it at him. He made a threat in Spanish.

They all turned around in shock as a gunshot was heard.

Otto stood next to a car, gun in hand and fired another shot into the air. The men dispersed as he pointed the small and powerful weapon at them.

He pocketed the gun and crouched down to talk to the boy who lay bleeding on the street.

"Maybe it's better you stick with me. Mexico can be very dangerous." He offered his hand and pulled Leo up.

The two of them walked back silently.

**Author's Note: Sadly, that's all there is for episode two. I have added to this the flashback of Leopold's near drowning and surgery that can be found in episodes four and thirteen.**


	3. Episode Three

Somewhere in Mexico on March 17:

Otto stood outside of the bathroom door as he waited for Leopold. The other man, Bellows, walked in.

"What are you doing?" Bellows looked angry as he walked toward Otto.

"The kid had to go to the bathroom?" Otto answered as Bellows ran up and violently pushed him out of the way.

Bellows opened the door and pushed Leo up against the wall.

"What, he can't get out." Otto walked in as Bellows began searching Leopold.

"Don't ever leave him alone. Idiot!" Bellows finished his search, finding nothing and forced the boy back into the room.

Otto followed and watched as Bellows handcuffed Leo to the bed. The teen looked up at the man with no expression on his face. Angry, Bellows reached down and flipped Leo's legs up onto the bed so he was forced into an uncomfortable laying position with his hand reaching behind him, locked to the bed.

Otto stayed behind as Bellows stalked out and looked at a nasty cut that could be seen on the kid's leg through a tear in his pants.

Leopold looked steadily back at his captor as he walked out and closed the door behind him with a click.

As soon as the door was closed, Leo sat up and reaching his free hand into his mouth to pull out a small blade that he had taken from the bathroom.

…

Leo sat upright on the bed. He had rolled up one leg of his pants to expose the cut.

Otto walked in holding a wet cloth. He tossed it at the boy. "It's for your leg."

As Leopold picked it up, Bellows appeared at the door. He sighed. "Can I talk to you?"

"Yeah," Otto looked at him expectantly.

"In the hall," He walked out into the hall, closely followed by Otto who closed the door behind him.

Leo leaned forward so he could listen.

"What?" Otto asked. The boy in the room could hear him loud and clear.

"I'm going out for a little while. I'd like you to think about something." Bellows leaned against the wall as he talked.

Otto responded with a shrug of his shoulders. "What's that?"

"I like that mask you're wearing."

"I'm not wearing a mask."

"Oh, you're not. Am I? Have you ever had your picture taken? Cause I've had mine taken and that kid, he can ID us both. So all this Nancy nurse stuff you're doing is just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Come pay day, that kid is in the ground. He's never gonna leave Mexico. You think about that."

…

Leopold lay on the bed with his arm stretched out at an awkward angle due to the handcuffs.

He sat up suddenly as he heard the loud voices of Otto and Bellows.

"What happened?" Otto asked in response to Bellows angry voice.

"You know we're better off to put a bullet in this kid's brain right now."

"Calm down."

Bellows burst into Leo's room and turned the light on. He stared at the kid for a while and then used his t-shirt to wipe some sweat off his upper lip. He walked out, closing the door behind him.

Leopold reached down and fingered the blade that he kept hidden.

…

Leo pulled out the blade and reached down to pick up a tray that had been left beside the bed. He pulled his leg up onto the bed and dipped the blade into some of the gunk that had been left on the tray.

He then dug the dirty blade into the wound on his leg, grimacing at the pain he was causing himself.


	4. Episode Four

Somewhere in Mexico on March 18:

"He's not breathing!" Otto cried out in alarm as he tried to shake the boy on the bed awake. "He's not breathing!" He called louder this time so that Bellows rushed in.

Bellows picked up a small mirror that had been placed on a sink in the room. He sat down next to Leopold and pulled him up so that his nose was right above the mirror. He watched the mirror carefully and reported his findings: "He's breathing." He began cleaning the mirror of on his shirt. "We don't need him to run a marathon." He got up from the bed. "He's less trouble this way."

"We have to take him to a hospital." Otto's voice was full of concern.

"Yeah, and maybe we can stop at a street fair along the way." Sarcasm lined Bellows voice as he placed the mirror back where it belonged.

"He's gonna die."

"That's what I've been trying to tell you all along."

Bellows walked out as Otto looked down upon the kid with concern.

…

Thunder sounded outside as a car drove up to the kidnapper's house.

Bellows quickly got up and pulled the lock off of Leopold's door. He walked into the room and pushed Leo's once-handcuffed hand back onto the bed. He knelt down beside the teen and pushed his hair out of his eyes, forcing the boy to look at him. "You're my kid, okay. You do anything that makes them think otherwise, you're my dead kid."

As the front door slammed shut, Bellows stood up and leaned over Leo as though he was a grieving father.

Otto walked in with a doctor behind him. Leo's breath was ragged and short.

Bellows sat down next to Leo on the bed as the doctor set down his bag and began pulling at the fabric that was stuck to Leopold's bloody wound.

Bellows held Leo's head and made gentle shushing noises at the boy as he whimpered in pain.

"How did this happen?" the doctor asked as he examined the large gash.

Bellows responded with a poor excuse. "Uh, he was playing hide and seek and caught his leg on a fence."

"Oh, you have other children here." The doctor assumed as Leo was far too old to be playing hide and seek.

"No." Bellows answered as he stroked the child's face.

"Then who was he playing hide and seek with?"

Bellows paused and looked up at the doctor and then across the room to where Otto was standing.

"That was me," Otto answered.

He walked around the doctor to stand closer to Bellows.

"Personally, I think you're a little big for hide and seek." The doctor reached down to pull up Leo's shirt. "The child's size gives him the ad-" The doctor paused as he looked upon a scar that ran up Leopold's chest. "Your son has had heart surgery."

Bellows nodded in agreement.

"Is he taking any medication?"

Bellows reached into his pocket and pulled out a small bottle of pills. He handed them to the doctor who examined the bottle. "Can you treat him?"

The doctor shook his head in disagreement. "He needs to be in the hospital. This infection could kill him."

Bellows walked to his side. "Doc, I'd rather not. His, um, his mother, she died in the hospital." Bellows feigned pain at the loss of his "wife."

"Yes, well my mother drowned in a lake, but when I'm hungry, I fish." The doctor looked at Bellows earnestly as lightning struck through the window behind them. Bellows looked down.

"Okay." The doctor leaned down into his bag to retrieve a syringe and some medicine. "Any allergies?"

"None," Bellows responded as he leaned over the bed.

As the doctor prepared the syringe, Leo managed to whisper: "Penicillin, I'm allergic to penicillin." His breathing was raspy and ragged.

The doctor immediately capped the syringe and placed it back in his bag.

…

After the wound had been bandaged properly, the doctor prepared to leave. "Make sure the wound is cleaned every day and that the bandage is changed. The anti-rejection meds will suppress his immune system so be sure that he takes these antibiotics." He handed Bellows some pills in a bottle.

"Thank you, doctor." Bellows said as the doctor moved out of the room.

"One pill, twice a day with food." The doctor responded.

"I'll drive him." Otto offered.

"No, no, no, I'll drive him." Bellows looked at the doctor with a large smile. "It's the least I can do, right?"

…

The doctor was found dead on the side of the road a day later. He had been shot.

…

After everyone had left, Leopold reached under the blanket to retrieve the cell phone he had stolen from the doctor as he was leaving. As he began to dial, the door opened. Leo threw the cell phone underneath the bed as Otto entered with a pair of handcuffs.

The boy watched while Otto attached one of the cuffs to the bed and the other to Leo's wrist.

Otto closed the door and Leo reached for the phone under the bed. However, now that he was handcuffed, he could no longer reach the phone that lay on the floor. He grasped for it hopelessly as a message flashed across the screen: "Low Battery"


	5. Episode Five

Somewhere in Mexico on March 19:

Leopold strained against his bounds as he reached for the phone that lay just out of reach underneath the bed. He pulled himself up instantly when he heard the door open and sat up as Otto walked in.

Otto handed the young teen a plastic cup with water and some pills.

"How long am I gonna be here for?" Leo asked as he took the cup from Otto.

"I don't know." Otto answered.

"Have you spoken with my parents?"

"Not my job."

"What is your job?" Leo asked quietly.

"You're my job." Otto snapped back. "Shut up and take the pills."

Leopold did and tilted his head back as he swallowed. "You think maybe you could bring me something to read?"

Otto stopped at the doorway. "What, you think this is a library? You want something to read?" Otto reached down and pulled up an empty chips bag that had been left in the room. "Here," he placed the bag on Leo's bed, "it's in Spanish. Is there anything else I can get you? Maybe you'd like to take a dip in the pool?"

Otto paused and looked at Leo's unhappy face before leaving and closing the door behind him. It shut with a bang and Leo instantly got back to work with the phone.

He tried once more to pull at his restraints to reach the phone and then sat up, pulling his pillow from the top of the bed and moving it back. He began to strip away the mattress's cheap fabric.

…

A hand reached through a small hole in the mattress. Leo strained against his bonds as he tried to get his hand to reach the phone on the floor. His arm was twisted behind his head and his face was the epitome of pain.

Just outside, Bellows played solitaire in the kitchen while Otto opened the refrigerator.

Leo stretched his arm further and managed to reach the phone. As he lifted it up, he accidentally hit a button that caused the phone to ring and it slipped from his hand.

Bellows looked up from his game. "What was that?" He stood up and walked with a quick stride toward the room with Otto fairly close behind him.

Leopold heard him coming. He quickly pulled his hand back through the hole he had made and pushed the pillow back up to the top of the bed. He grabbed a bit of the mattress's material that sat on top of the mattress and hid that under the pillow. Then he closed his eyes and pretended to sleep.

Bellows barged in to find the TV in the room turned on. He whacked the button to turn it off and picked up a remote that lay next to the bed.

"What's this about?" He asked Otto.

Otto shrugged. "I got tired of changing the channels for him all the time."

Bellows threw the remote to the ground hard enough that it broke into multiple pieces. "We're not running a motel here." He walked off, lightly pushing Otto aside.

Otto closed the door and Leo instantly opened his eyes. He reached down again and this time managed to pull the phone up.

He flipped it over only to find that the phone's battery had been knocked out when he had dropped it. He slammed the phone down on the mattress in anger and reached down once again to find the battery.

Once he had the battery, he quickly inserted it into the phone and sat up to dial. His fingers moved quickly across the familiar numbers off his home phone.

He held the phone to his ear and was dismayed to find that his only answer was the voice of a friendly recorded voice that spoke in Spanish. He tried again only to find the same results.

It was then that Leopold realized his mistake. He quickly dialed again, this time including an area code. He put the phone up to his ear and heard it ringing through.

That was when Otto walked in. "Hey-" he began before noticing the phone in Leo's hand. He dropped the tray he was holding that held dinner for Leo as well as a book.

"Pick up, Pick up!" Leo begged the non-answering family members on the other end. Otto wrestled the phone out of the boy's hand as, on the other end, detectives were preparing to trace the call.

Ellie Cain answered with a casual "Hello."

On Leopold's end, Otto held the phone up to his ear with one hand and the boy's mouth shut with the other.

Leo was pinned up against the wall and Otto's hand covered his mouth too tightly for him to be able to make a sound.

"Hello?" Ellie asked this time, wondering why there was no answer.

Otto hit the end call button and hid the phone at his side while Bellows walked in.

Bellows kicked at the fallen tray. "What happened here?"

"The tray slipped." Otto answered, not wanting to take the blame for Leo's near-success.

"Guess that means no dinner for you then, huh?" Bellows addressed the teen this time. He picked up the book off the floor. It was _The Count of Monte Cristo_. He looked at Otto. "Clean it up."

Otto nodded slightly and Bellows left. He looked at the phone for a while and then lashed out, hitting the boy in the face with it.

Leo reeled back, covering his face in pain.


	6. Episode Six

About four months ago in the Cain penthouse:

Conrad Cain was straightening his tie in the mirror of the bathroom when his son appeared in the doorway.

"Dad," Leo walked into the bathroom. There was a small cut on his face right by his nose. "Are you late for work?"

"What happened?"

"You tell me." Leopold walked up to his father so he could inspect the razor wound.

"Let's see here," Conrad muttered to himself as he studied the cut. "You know I'm late for work."

"Yeah, I know."

"Alright, show me exactly what you did."

Leo held up a shaving razor, "Pantomime or real?"

"Just, what'd you do, how'd you do that?"

Leo put the razor closer to his face and smiled as he tried to show his father his mistake.

"No, wait, first we gotta get a little piece of paper to stop the bleeding." The boy's dad reached for a piece of tissue paper and tore a piece off to cover the cut. "You can take it off before you go to school. Just leave that on there for a while." Conrad stuck the paper to the cut.

"I didn't want to ruin the bloody effect."

"Ah, because I'm late for work." Conrad straightened his tie.

Leo nodded slightly and smiled.

"Okay, now, you'll only be able to get it like this." Conrad took hold of his son's face and demonstrated the way to get to the spot. "You just wanna do it like that."

Leo broke free from his hold and the two of them laughed.

…

March 20 somewhere in Mexico:

Outside of his room, Leo heard Otto and Bellows conversing. Otto had just gotten off the phone.

"Who was that?" Bellows asked him.

"They're scheduling a phone call." Otto replied. He opened the door to the boy's room and stepped in.

Leo was lying on the bed reading _The Count of Monte Cristo_.

"Get ready kid," Otto told him, "Looks like you're going home."

…

About three weeks ago in the Cain Penthouse:

"We never do anything we want in this family." Leopold complained to his mother. "We just do what we're programmed to do. It's like we're robots. You're such a hypocrite."

"What's that supposed to mean?" His mother asked him. She was preoccupied with filling out multiple forms that were spread across the table.

"Nothing," he responded indignantly as he packed up his backpack and left the room.

…

The phone rang in FBI headquarters. It was put on speaker.

On the other end, Bellows held a cell phone up to Leopold's ear so that he could talk. Otto stood nearby.

"Mom?" Leo called out to Ellie.

The response on the other end was immediate: "Leo!" His father's harsh and distressed voice sounded. "Leo," his mother called out, more gently but full of emotion.

"Mom," Leo said again.

"Leo, oh God, Leo, are you alright?"

"I'm okay."

"Are you taking your pills?"

On the other end Leo nodded and then said, "Yeah."

"Are they feeding you?"

Leopold paused slightly before answering, "I just had breakfast." This was his way of giving them a clue as to where he was. He was not in the same time zone as his parents.

"Oh good, Leo, we're gonna bring you home, okay?"

"Let's go." Bellows muttered to the boy.

"I gotta go, Mom."

"No, Leo Wait!" His mom called out. "Leo! Leo!" Conrad yelled into the phone.

Bellows took the phone from Leo's ear and ended the call. Leo was guided back to the bed and handcuffed to it. Then Otto and Bellows left the room, slamming the door behind them.

…

The sound of a glass bottle crashing against the wall brought Leo to attention.

"Relax," Leopold heard Otto telling Bellows.

"Give him his pill." Bellows yelled back.

The door opened and Otto came in carrying a yellow plastic cup and a pill.

"When am I-" Leo began to ask before he was cut off by Otto.

"Just shut up and take your pill."

Leo took the pill and watched as Otto left the room.

**Author's Note: That's it for episode six. All of the flashbacks in this episode were actually seen in this episode. One of them was video feed that was found on cameras that had been placed in the house. I'm not completely sure whether the other scene with the father was a flashback or a hallucination, but I liked it and it seemed something that was likely to happen between the two, so I added it. **


	7. Episodes Seven and Eight

Somewhere in Mexico on March 21 and 22:

A Spanish game show played on a TV that was across from Leopold's room. The door was open and he watched the show simply because there was absolutely nothing else he could do.

Bellows walked by and noticed. "Hey," he addressed the boy, "what are you looking at, Rich?"

Leo stared back in response. Bellows reached out and closed the door.

"Anything?" Bellows asked Otto after walking a little ways. As usual, the boy in the room was able to hear the conversation.

Otto must have answered with a negative because Bellows began to rant in frustration. "Come on, what the hell is taking so long?"

A cell phone rang.

"Hey, did we get the money?" Bellows answered. After listening a while he responded with: "What complications?" Then after listening some more he yelled "Pushed!" into the phone.

In his room, Leo could hear things being knocked around. It was clear that Bellows was angry

…

Leopold sat up quickly as Bellows entered the room.

"Where's Otto?" Leo asked him as he handed him a pill, something that was usually done by Otto.

Bellows paused. "Aw, you miss your boyfriend?" He smirked, "He'll be back. Here you go, Richie." Bellows placed the pill in Leo's hand.

"Why do you keep calling me that?" The boy asked as he swallowed the pill.

"Cause you're a spoiled little rich kid, just like in the comics."

"You like comics?"

Bellows paused before answering, "Yeah."

"Me too, what's your favorite?"

"X-Men."

Leopold smiled at this. "Me too, who's your favorite-"

"Save it." Bellows cut the boy off. "Save it for Otto, will ya?" Bellows walked out and made a single comment before closing the door: "He's the weak one."

…

The door slammed behind Otto as he walked into the house.

"Look at this!" Bellows immediately began yelling. "This is their complications, Huh? Blowing up money? That's not complicated, it's idiotic!"

"Listen, we may have a problem." Otto responded in a calmer voice.

"Oh, you think so, huh?" Bellows speed-dialed a number on a phone to make a call; he was left unanswered.

"Forty million," Otto said, "Listen, we need to talk."

"Forty million dollars."

"Yes, but I need to tell you something."

"They blew up forty million dollars."

"Forget the money." Otto shoved Bellows.

"What do you mean "forget the money" they blew up forty million dollars!" Bellows' voice escalated as he grew angrier.

"I need to tell you something right now."

"You don't understand." Bellows walked away and dragged Leopold out of his room to sit next to a broadcasting television that depicted a scene of mass fire and explosion. "You see that!" He yelled at the boy. "Huh, you see that? That was our forty million dollars. Are you getting me!"

"It's not important right now." Otto argued, still trying to get a message to Bellows.

Otto continued to speak as Bellows pulled Leo back into his room. "There's a problem, will you listen to me? We have a bigger problem here!"

"What bigger problem?" Bellows finally began to listen.

"I ran into the sheriff and he was asking me questions about the doctor."

"Where?"

"In church."

"You went to church? Why the hell were you going to church?"

"I was praying."

"You were praying?"

"Is that a problem?"

"You were seeking absolution in the middle of a crime and you're asking me if it's a problem?" Bellows turned on Otto. "You wanna bring God into this, Huh! You wanna bring God into this! Fine you can bring God into this. You can pay him with your share which is by now halfway over New Jersey." Bellows picked up a cell phone and began dialing.

"Who are you calling?" Otto asked him.

"The pope," Bellows said sarcastically "Of course." He held the phone to his ear. "Hey, you got forty million laying around your house?" he asked the other end. "Can you explain to me why that happened?" He paused, "The thing with the money." He snapped in response to whatever was said on the other end. "Are you handling me?"…"No?"…"You can't or you won't"…"Alright then, we have a big problem."

…

Bellows was on the phone again. "You'd better think of something, cause we gotta get moving." He said into the device.

Leopold's door was open again and he watched as Otto and Bellows packed up things. They were preparing to move to a new location.

"Otto," Leo addressed the man as he walked by the open door, "what's going on? You said I was going home."

"I don't know." Otto said as he closed the door.

…

Bellows answered his phone while he and Otto stood in Leo's room. Otto was removing Leopold's handcuffs.

"Yeah?" he spoke to the phone…"A change of plan, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"…"Yeah, I want more money. I wanted a lot of things, I wanted my mommy to love me, but, uh, that's never gonna happen."…"Well, how is this raise supposed to get to us down here?"

Otto stopped what he was doing and walked over to the doorway.

"Yeah," Bellows was walking away with the phone now. "We're just getting ready to leave right now." He walked halfway out of the front door.

"We're not leaving?" Leo the boy asked Otto who still stood in the doorway.

"Shut up." Otto responded as he tried to listen to Bellows.

"Alright," Bellows said into the phone, "until you say so."

"Do you know what happened after I talked to my mom?" Leo asked Otto.

Otto didn't respond.

"My dad's paying the ransom, right?" He tried another question.

"There were complications." Otto said.

"You better not be yanking my chain. You say more money that means more money." Bellows was still on the cell phone.

"Is that why you went to church?" Leopold continued questioning Otto. "We used to go back home sometimes. Do you believe in Hell?"

"Yeah," there was a hint of fear in Otto's voice.

"Me too."

"Come on." Bellows walked back into the room, finished with his phone conversation. He pushed Otto out of the room. "Stop flirting with the kid and make yourself useful." Bellows walked in and replaced the handcuffs that Otto had taken off of the bed.

"Just remember Richie," he told the teen, "he aint ever gonna like you more than he fears me."

Leopold stared as Bellows walked off, closing the door to the room.

**Author's Note: A few scenes in this episode may seem slightly confusing to any who haven't actually seen the show Kidnapped in its entirety. Allow me to elaborate a bit: Leopold's ransom was paid as forty million dollars. As soon the money was received, the kidnapped arranged for it to be blown up, giving the message "We don't want your money." This event appeared on the news which Otto and Bellows watched. Bellows was enraged by the fact that it happened. Also, since episode seven and eight were both fairly short on Leo scenes, I have combined the two.**


	8. Episode Eleven

**Author's Note: I've skipped episodes nine and ten. This is because the only actual scene with Leopold in episode nine is the flashback that I've placed in episode one (since it fit in with the action that was happening then). In episode ten, there are absolutely no Leo scenes. At this point in the story, Otto and Bellows have gone rouge along with one other man who was involved with the kidnapping. The man behind the whole plan still has yet to be found and his motives are still unknown.**

Somewhere in Mexico on March 25:

Otto walked into Leo's room and handed him five small white pills and a glass of milk. Leopold put all of them in his mouth at once and pretended to swallow them with the milk. He handed the glass back to Otto and Otto left.

As soon as the door closed behind Otto, the boy spit out all five pills and hid them under the mattress with the other pills.

About ten minutes later, Otto entered the room again. Leopold had entered a fake sleep. He kept his eyes closed and his breathing steady as Otto undid the handcuffs on the bed and moved them so that Leo's hands were handcuffed together rather than having the boy handcuffed to the bed.

He produced a roll of duct tape and used a piece to cover the teen's mouth. As soon as he was done, he lifted the boy up and carried him to a car that was parked outside of the house.

Bellows waited there and Leo was placed in the open trunk of the old car. Since it was a larger car, there were windows in the trunk and as Bellows left to start the car, Otto covered the boy with a large coat and a blanket.

Leopold remained still as he pretended to be under the influence of the sedatives Otto had given him.

…

Leo continued to pretend to sleep as the car drove on. The sun shone through the windows and Otto and Bellows began to converse.

"Is the kid asleep?" Bellows asked Otto.

"Yeah, I gave him enough to put him out for a couple hours. Where are we going?"

"This place I went on vacation once."

"Is it nice?"

"It aint any worse than where we've been staying." Bellows sped the car up.

"So what'd he say about the money." Otto changed the topic of conversation.

"Million dollars apiece," Bellows answered.

"That's a lot of money."

"Yeah."

The two men continued to converse and Leo lost track of the conversation as his mind drifted into its own thoughts.

The boy was brought back into reality by the sound of police sirens.

Bellows had been going about twenty miles over the speed limit on the deserted road. "Is the kid covered up?" He asked as he pulled over. A cop got out of his car and headed for the driver's side window.

Bellows rolled down the window and asked: "What's the problem?" in Spanish.

"I have to write you a ticket." The police officer responded in perfect English.

"Is this something we can take care of here?" Bellows held up a wad of cash.

As the cop smiled and reached for the money, Leopold seized his chance at freedom. He managed to pull the tape halfway off his mouth and he banged on the side of the car to get the man's attention.

"Help! Help me! Help!" He begged the startled officer.

Two gunshots rang out as Bellows fired a gun he had concealed in his hand just underneath the window. They hit the cop square in the stomach.

The officer fell backward onto the ground as Bellows got out of the car and, in his angry state, shot the officer once more. He headed backward to open the trunk.

As Bellows neared his destination, Leopold moved up and rolled into the backseat. Bellows raced forward and opened the back door of the car.

He reached in and dragged the teen out. He pushed the boy up against the side of the car as he reached for Otto, who had walked around the other side of the car, to pull a bottle of pills from his pocket.

"You see that?" Bellows forced the bottle open. "You can give him all the pills you like." He let several pills drop into his hand. "It doesn't matter unless he chews 'em." Bellows forced the pills into Leo's mouth.

"Come on." The angry man muttered as Leopold resisted.

"You just shot a cop." Otto said, amazed and horrified at Bellows' crime.

"You should be happy." Bellows responded as he successfully finished his task with the pills. "Now he can be with God." He shoved Leo at Otto, who caught him and pushed him into the backseat of the car.

Bellows moved to the driver's seat and Otto climbed into the back with Leo. Otto reached into the trunk and pulled the coat out of the back to cover the boy.

The car drove off, leaving the dead officer on the road.

…

They had driven to an abandoned prison located on the coast of Mexico. Otto walked in as Bellows handcuffed Leopold to the bars of a cell. This left Leo in an awkward position, standing with his arms held high above his head.

"Can't you put him someplace more...?" Otto began as he sat down on a nearby chair.

"More what? More comfortable?" Bellows responded with a hint of anger in his voice. Leopold looked at him with spite.

"You two oughta grow old together." Bellows mocked Otto. Leo glanced up at some wires hanging just above where his hands were.

Bellows looked at his phone. "I can't get a signal. I'm gonna go outside." He picked up a large back and began to leave. "Leave the kid where he is." He commanded Otto before disappearing.

"It's almost over, kid." Otto told Leopold.

The boy looked at Otto with a sad smirk. "You think he's gonna let me live. I know what he looks like. He knows I know what he looks like."

The man sighed and stood up and walked to stand by Leo. He pulled out one of Leo's anti-rejection pills and forced it into his mouth.

Leo spat it out to the side. "No sense making beds in a burning house, right?"

Otto gave up and moved back to sit down.

Leopold looked up at the wires above him once more. An idea began to take shape in his mind.


	9. Episode Twelve

Abandoned Jailhouse on the coast of Mexico on March 26:

"How much?" Leopold asked Otto.

"What?" Otto looked at Leo from his chair. The boy remained handcuffed to the upper bars.

"What's your cut? That's what they call it, right, a cut?

Otto avoided eye contact and didn't respond.

"Don't I at least have the right to know how much you're making?"

"A million."

Leo smiled knowingly. "You're getting jipped."

"Why?" Otto asked with laughter in his voice.

"A million bucks? My dad's worth a thousand times that."

Otto said nothing as he took in this information.

"Your partner's holding out on you."

Otto thought for a moment and then got up and swiftly left the room.

This is what Leo's goal was. He smiled as he watched Otto walk off. Then, he reached up to pull down one of the broken wires from above him. Struggling, he slipped the sharp end of the wire into the lock on his handcuffs and began picking it.

The lock sprang open and Leo quickly managed to do the same to the other side. Then he ran.

Bellows burst in seconds later with Otto close behind him.

Leopold had managed to hide himself in one of the small passages that opened into ductwork. He began climbing up some of the pipes.

"Don't piss me off, kid!" He heard Bellows yelling from the room he had just vacated.

"Come on, kid." He yelled again. His yells echoed through the building as he ran through it. "It's almost over!" Leopold went absolutely still as Bellows approached his hiding place. "Mommy and Daddy are here! There's nothing out there! It's just a jungle! You need me kid! Come on now!" Bellows began looking through small doorways and holes in the wall.

"Remember the last time you got out?" Bellows walked straight by Leo's sanctuary. "It didn't last two minutes! It's dangerous outside these walls! It's much safer in here! Your friend Otto's here! You might not trust me, but you can trust Otto!" He passed by, not noticing the boy's foot resting on a pipe near the top of the hole.

Leopold continued climbing until he reached the upper level of the jailhouse. From here, he could look down on Bellows through a set of bars located there.

"NOOOO! Why are you making this so hard on yourself kid, huh? Huh!" Bellows yelled in frustration as Otto walked in, his hands held out to his sides in a hopeless gesture.

Bellows kicked in a door. "You know I'm gonna find you sooner or later! I'll tell you what, kid. I'm gonna count to three and then I'm gonna put a bullet in Otto!" He held up the small gun that he held in his hand. Otto looked on stunned. Leopold continued to watch unnoticed by the two men.

"Is that what you want! One…" Bellows held the gun in the air.

Leopold looked on, horrified and out of breath.

"Two…" Otto gave Bellows a slightly angry look, but he wasn't taking the threat seriously.

Bellows held the gun in the air a moment longer and then quickly moved the gun down and shot Otto in the lower leg.

Otto fell over to the side, screaming in pain.

"Listen up kid!" Bellows yelled out. "I can kill Otto right here, right now, or we can get him some help! It's up to you!"

Otto looked up at Bellows in anger. "Listen to me kid! Please listen to me!" He rocked back and forth, holding his leg in pain.

"Yeah, kid, listen up, listen real close!" Bellows yelled.

"RUN!" Otto yelled to Leo. "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" He turned to look at Bellows who aimed his gun and fired a single shot to kill Otto.

"Alright, kid, just you and me now!" He held the gun at his side. "Get ready to have some fun!"

In one swift movement, Leopold jumped to his feet and ran as fast as he could.

Bellows heard the sound of the boy's bare feet on the cement and rushed after him, stopping to swap his small hand gun for a rifle.

Leo ran through the jailhouse and down a small flight of steps that led him to the edge of the building. He climbed up the small ledge located there and jumped down onto the jungle floor. Bellows followed close behind.

Leopold sprinted through the dense foliage, cutting his feet on the small sharp rocks that were embedded in the dirt. Adrenaline pushed him forward as gunshots rang out behind him and bullets flew frightfully near.

The trees and plants became fewer as the teen neared the coast where water crashed up onto the shore.

Bellows crouched down and began to take aim, but stopped when he realized where the boy was headed. The ocean would be a dead end and the man gave a sick smile as he thought of what an easy target the kid would become.

Leo raced into the ocean and ran through the water until he was far enough in to swim.

"Come on, kid!" Bellows yelled as he reached the edge of the jungle. "Where are you gonna go, huh?" He fired a single shot and missed when Leopold dove underwater. "You can't stay down there all day!"

Leo grabbed onto a log at the bottom of the ocean to hold himself down. His thoughts drifted back to himself in the pool at home where he was able to hold his breath for more than three minutes.

Time ticked by and Leo tried to remain calm as he concentrated. He imagined he was home again and this moment of holding his breath was only practice for beating the static apnea record.

But no one can hold their breath forever. His lungs began to ache as he ran out of breath and his entire self longed for the air that was just above him.

"Come on." Bellows muttered to himself from the shore. He was amazed at how long the boy had stayed under.

Leo burst from the water, unable to keep the oxygen from himself any longer. He gasped for air as Bellows muttered, "Gotcha," and took aim.

Virgil as he moved his finger to pull the trigger, Virgil ran out of the dense foliage and, in one swift movement, grabbed the man's head and broke his neck.

Leo stared in disbelief for a moment before breaking into a smile and swimming toward his bodyguard.

Virgil walked up to meet the boy and Leo reached up to hug his savior. Virgil wrapped the teen in a one-armed hug as he held Bellows' rifle in his other hand.

The two walked back to the shore together and Virgil tore the bottoms of Leo's pants to fashion bandages for his bloody feet.

"Why'd they do this?" Leo asked.

"Don't know." Virgil responded.

"Who took me?"

The man shrugged, "Don't know."

"I saw you got shot. I thought you were dead."

"That's what the doc said."

"They were gonna kill me."

"You did good." The man consoled the child. He finished bandaging Leo's feet. "So, do you think you can stand up and walk on that?"

Leo nodded.

"Good, we'll take you to see your father."

"He's here?"

"Yeah, let's go." Virgil offered Leo his hand and helped him up.

The two walked back through the jungle.

"You don't look so good." Leo told the man.

"Look who's talking." Virgil bent over slightly and caught his breath.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'll manage."

The two continued on. The sounds of machine guns rang out suddenly and shocked both of them.

"Stay here. Don't move." Virgil commanded the boy. He walked forward slowly with his gun ahead of him, leaving the teen alone. Machine gun shots continued on and their sound pelted through the quiet of the jungle.

Then things were quiet for a while. A man with a gun walked up to the defenseless boy.

"Virgil!" The boy called out for his bodyguard as the gunman put a hand over Leo's mouth and shoved him up against the tree with the gun pointed at the teen's throat.

"Not a word." The nameless man told the boy before taking his hand off and tightening his finger to pull the trigger.

A gunshot rang out.

The man fell to the ground and Leopold looked over to see his father pointing a gun.

"Leo." His dad said with a voice full of emotion.

Leo raced to hug his father, "Dad." He was on the brink of tears.

"You're okay. You're alright. You're alright."

…

Leopold Cain stood in the jungle with his father and three other men: Virgil; FBI agent Latimer King, Virgil's brother-in-law; and a man called Knapp who was a rouge agent that specialized in kidnappings.

Virgil was out of breath and tired. He had left the hospital to find Leo before he had healed from the gunshot wound in his shoulder.

Conrad held his son's shoulder as he tried to reach Ellie on his cell phone.

"Is she there?" Leo asked.

"She left an hour ago." Knapp answered.

Leopold limped over to Knapp who was also on a cell phone. He finished his conversation and turned to look at the boy.

"My dad said that you helped find me?" Leo made the statement into a question.

"Yeah." Knapp responded.

"Thank you." Leo's eyes were earnest and his gratitude showed in them.

Knapp nodded in response. "You got it." He muttered.

"Hey Virgil," Leo turned around to address the man who was resting up against a large tree, "did I ever tell you about Martin Stepanek?"

Virgil didn't respond.

"Virgil?" The boy asked.

Still, the man did not respond.

"Virgil!" Leo yelled, alarm in his voice. He ran to crouch down by the man.

Latimer King, who was sitting next to him reached over and shook his shoulder and then turned his head around to close his unblinking eyes. The man had died shortly after finishing his mission of protecting the boy.

Leopold held one of Virgil's wrists as Latimer held onto his hand. Both were too consumed with grief to say a word.

A helicopter flew overhead.

…

Back in the Cain penthouse, Ellie Cain answered her cell phone with an anxiety-filled "Hello?"

The voice she heard on the other end was her son's.

**Author's Note: Clarification for all those that have not seen Kidnapped. In this scene in the jungle, many of the agents and detectives have come together in Mexico in their search for Leo Conrad Cain is among them. They all end up in the same place in a shooting match with many members of the kidnapper's forces. The kidnapper himself has yet to be identified.**


	10. Episode Thirteen

New York City on March 27:

Leopold looked out the window of the backseat of one of three large black cars. Everything in New York looked slightly different than when he had been taken. Everything seemed so much bigger.

His father reached over from the seat next to him and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. Leo looked away from the window to smile at his dad.

Ellie Cain stood outside on the sidewalk. Three cars pulled up. She began trying to find out which one held her son.

"Ellie! Ellie!" Conrad called to her to get her attention. He climbed out of the last car and Leo followed him.

Ellie rushed forward with a smile on her face to hug her boy. "Oh, baby, my baby." She cried as she held him close. Then she stood back, her hands cupping his face. "Let me look at you."

He hadn't returned her hug. He wasn't smiling. "Virgil's dead." He told his mother.

"What?" Ellie gasped in amazement and looked toward Conrad for confirmation.

"Yeah." Conrad nodded.

"He saved my life." Leo said.

"Oh, baby. I'm so sorry, baby." She wrapped her arms around him once more. Conrad placed a hand on his son's head.

A black sedan drove up and Andrew Archer, head of the FBI investigations stepped out. "We should, uh, go inside."

Ellie moved away from Leo slightly to show him to Archer. "Agent Archer, this is Leo. He's my son." She happily introduced the boy.

Archer stretched his hand out to shake Leo's. "Welcome home, son. Let's get you upstairs where it's safe." They entered the building together. Conrad and Ellie both had one arm around their son.

…

Leopold stood in the entrance hall of his house, turning slightly to take in the vastness that surrounded him.

Ellie walked in. "How does it feel?" She asked.

"Big," he responded with a sad tone to his voice.

His mother moved forward to hug him once more.

"Mom," he slightly protested.

"What?"

He lifted up his arm to respond to her embrace. "I stink."

"Oh, I don't care." She held on a moment longer before pulling back. "You're so skinny." She wiped the tears from her eyes. "I think you've grown."

He smiled at this. "Maybe," he whispered. "Where are Aubrey and Alice?" He was holding tears back now.

"They're at Grandpa's. They're gonna be back soon."

"Dad seems different."

"Yeah, you sure you're okay." She whispered to him.

"I don't- I don't know." He began the embrace this time. Mother and son reunited held each other close. It wasn't until now that Leo really allowed himself to cry.

"It's okay." Ellie told him. "You're home. You're home."

Leo stood back, aware of how disgusting he was after twelve days of not bathing. "I'm gonna shower now."

"Okay, good, yeah, cause you really stink."

Leopold walked up the stairs toward the bathroom.

…

Much of the stress was gone from the family due to Leo's return. However, the man behind everything still had yet to be found. The Cain penthouse doors were being guarded by FBI agents and the main suspect was being tracked down.

…

Leo sat in the kitchen with his mother beside him. He bit into a sandwich.

"So, how is it?" She asked him.

"It's good." He held the sandwich out toward her. "Want some?"

"Oh, no thank you." There was a hint of disgust in her voice.

"Come on."

It was in Ellie's nature to say no to this kind of offer, but coming from her son who had just returned home, she could not refuse. "Okay," she took the sandwich from him and bit into it. She gave a look of surprise. "It's really good." She laughed. "Who'd thought? Peanut butter and bacon."

"Well, when I was visiting Dad when he was across the park, I was really hungry and all he had was peanut butter, bacon and white bread. And the rest is history."

Ellie reached up and wiped some peanut butter off the edge of Leo's mouth. "You are one smart kid."

Conrad walked in hastily. "What do you say we go somewhere?"

"Where?" Ellie asked with confusion in her voice.

"Let's go away. Let's go to the, uh, vineyard." Conrad replied.

"When?" She asked, her voice suggesting that he was crazy.

"Tonight." His reply made it clear that he was completely serious.

Ellie gestured toward Leo. "I am not letting him leave this house for the next twenty years."

"Aw, come one, what do you say, Leo?" Conrad looked at his son.

"What about work?" Conrad's job always seemed more important to him than his family.

"Who cares about work?" He casually dissed what used all he ever cared about.

Leopold smiled at this. His father had changed a lot, but he had changed for the better.

…

The three Cains had a press conference shortly after. Leopold's sisters were to stay at their grandfather's for the rest of the day.

"Leo," a reported began, "How does it feel to be home?"

"It feels good." He responded simply although it didn't even begin to explain all of the feelings he had inside him. He was dressed in his nicest suit and standing in between his father and mother. FBI agents stood behind them.

"If I could have a moment, I would like to make a statement, thank you." Conrad began a lengthy speech about how many people the family had to thank for his son's safe return. "First of all I'd like to say we're very happy to have our son home, as you can see," he placed his arm over Leo's shoulder, "and we'd like to thank everyone for their support: the FBI, the good people of New York whose kindness and generosity have really touched our hearts and helped us get through this ordeal. I'd like to thank my wife, who is the real backbone of this family. We can't answer any questions or comment any further as the investigation is ongoing. We just wanted to come out here today and say thank you."

Leo's mind wandered off and he forgot to keep smiling about halfway through his father's speech. They finished with the conference and walked back inside.

They went up in the elevator and Leo went up to his room to change out of his suit.

After he had changed, he laid down on his bed, his own bed, and tried to fall asleep. It had been quite a while since he had really slept.

He couldn't sleep, though. His mind kept flashing back to the kidnapping. He saw his driver get shot; Virgil getting shot; being given pills by Otto; Escaping for the first time; worsening his own cut; being slapped by Otto with the stolen cell phone; Otto's last words before he was shot by Bellows.

Leo opened his eyes as he sensed a presence in his room. FBI agent stood over him.

"What are you doing here?" Leo asked the man.

"You know you are very lucky. You know that?"

"Yeah." Leo was confused by the man's strange behavior and his presence in the room.

"No, no, I mean really lucky. Pretty durable, too, first a heart transplant and then all this; I wanna know what the odds are. You know, of surviving both." His eyes were cold.

"I don't know."

"Not good." Archer pulled out a gun. "Don't you say a word until I tell you to. I've killed everyone in this house who could help you."

Leo sat up.

"Now, you will walk down the stairs ahead of me."

The boy got up off the bed and walked out of the room and down the stairs. Archer followed with the gun pointed at Leo's back. Terror was building up quickly inside the boy.

Archer pushed him into a chair located at the bottom of the stairs. "Now you may talk." He held the gun directly above the teen.

"MOM!" Leo yelled for his mother, his voice expressed all of the fear that had instantly become part of him.

Both his parents rushed in instantly. "Oh my God." Ellie was filled with instant terror as she saw the state her son was in. It seemed unreal, especially after Leo had just been returned to her. "Get away from him!" She yelled at Archer.

"Listen to me!" Conrad commanded.

"No, no," Archer said, "in a situation like this, you listen to whoever has the gun. I'll give you some other tips: Don't provoke the shooter."

"Wait, wait, hold-" Conrad began.

"Leo," Ellie called out in distress.

"Good," Archer said, "Use the victim's first name. Humanize him. Create empathy. Let the assailant know that the victim is not just some random person."

"Please, why are you doing this?" None of the family could understand why this man who had helped with the whole investigation was suddenly getting ready to kill Leo.

"Why am I doing this? Because you destroyed a man's life, and I'm here to avenge him."

"What man?" Conrad asked.

"Well, there was a man, a good man, a just man, a family man, a company man, a man who believed in the system, played by the rules: keep your nose clean and everything will fall into place. That was the man's philosophy and so far, it had been good to him."

"We- We can talk- we can work this-" Ellie stuttered.

"Shut up!" Archer cut off her stammering. "Shut up, otherwise I'll kill him now." He continued with his story: "The man had everything he wanted: a beautiful wife, a wonderful son and a great job upholding that great system he put so much faith into, but then tragedy struck and God tried to take from him the only thing that mattered. So the man rushed his son to the hospital: a congenital heart problem. The man's son was placed at the bottom of a list, a long list, at the end of which was hope."

Leopold's eyes filled with tears. Conrad and Ellie remained completely motionless.

"The man knew there was nothing he could do to help his son. He knew, that he must put his faith where it had always been: in the system. And one day, after a year of waiting, after the boy's condition had worsened to the point where all hope was lost, the phone rang! A donor had been found! Anew heart was waiting for the man's son! And that's when everything went wrong. There was a complication. The heart was deemed and unviable organ. The surgery was cancelled. The man's son died and the man knew he'd done all he could, but something wasn't right. He knew how to spot a lie. He was an FBI agent after all. The man could not believe the truth! But, there it was. His own son had died so that a rich man's son could live."

Archer gestured at Leo with the gun. "How could the system that he had sworn to uphold turn on him, it's most loyal protector? The man became consumed with grief and anger. He began to investigate the rich man and the deeper he dug, the more his hatred grew. He dedicated his life to building a case against the rich man, unearthing all of his sins until; finally, his case was built. And on the eve of nailing this rich man to the wall, he was ecstatic.

"But then the man, who had grown empty inside, had this terrible last thought. What if the rich man, who had already shown his talent for manipulating the system, managed to manipulate his way out of this; or what if he ended up in some country club prison playing tennis for three years and getting off with good behavior, no."

Archer gestured wildly in the air with the gun and then pointed it back toward Leo. "No, the punishment must fit the crime, the man said to himself. And his family must be destroyed; they must be torn down, removed from the earth as you would remove cancer from the body. And the man learned all the rich man's secrets. He would create chaos involving the FBI, a bodyguard and a kidnap specialist. By the time he was ready, what little humanity he had left inside was dead until all that was left is what you see here."

"Listen to me." Conrad tried using a reasoning voice. "You're wrong."

"What?" Archer's voice was full of spite.

"I said you're wrong. I didn't do these things, I did not take your son's heart."  
>"Oh, he is good." Archer looked down at Leo. "He's lying to me just like he lies to his shareholders."<p>

"It's true, it's true." Conrad tried to convince the heartless man.

Archer pointed the gun up before returning it to its original position. "You are gonna watch your son die the same way I watched my son die."

Leopold shook his head with tears of fear and distress in his eyes.

"Listen Archer," Conrad tried again, "You have to believe me."

"The man you think you're talking to can't even hear you."

"I swear-" Conrad started.

Archer pointed the gun at Conrad. "I will shoot you right now."

"It was me!" Ellie shouted out.

Leo looked at her in shock.

"It was me." She repeated. "I didn't know. I was only thinking about my child. I swear to you, I didn't know." Tears streamed down her face. "If you had a chance to save your child's life, you'd take it, wouldn't you?"

Archer's eyes were filled with confusion.

"Of course you would." Ellie answered for him. "I swear to you, I did not know it was meant for your son."

"Liar!" Archer responded instantly.

"I am not lying, I swear. Please, if you need to punish someone punish me, not my son. Punish me, please."

"It's too late!" Archer yelled.

"Archer!" A voice called from outside the door. "I'm coming in. I'm unarmed. Knapp burst in. "Do you hear me, I'm unarmed."

Archer dragged the boy out of the chair and held him with the point of the gun right next to his head. "I believe you." He said to Knapp.

"It's over." Knapp told him.

"Nothing's over." Archer replied.

"It's over." Knapp repeated. "You don't wanna do this."

"He took everything from me."

"I know. But that kid is innocent."

"Nobody's innocent here."

"Listen to me, Andy, there's something you don't know about your son."

"SHUT UP!" Archer looked around him. "Where's King?"

Knapp didn't answer the question. "There's something you don't know."

"You're stalling." Archer dragged the breathless boy back.

Ellie and Conrad remained where they were, horror in their eyes.

"No," Knapp said calmly.

A second later, a bullet crashed through the window and Archer fell backward, releasing Leo from his grip. The boy raced into his parent's arms while Knapp bent over Archer to make sure he was dead.

King stood on the balcony of the building that stood adjacent to the Cain's and moved backward from the sniper gun he had fired.

…

Archer's house was searched and video feeds of the Cains along with news clippings and files were found in Archer's basement. He had clearly been obsessed with what he had been doing. His anger over the death of his son had blown out of proportion and, luckily, his plans never succeeded. Leopold Cain was safe.

…

Leopold was back in his room. He sat on his bed reading his favorite book: _The Tibetan Book of the Dead_.

Latimer King walked up and knocked gently on the door. Leo looked up and King waved at him slightly.

"Agent King," Leo said as means of welcoming the man.

"Nice room." King walked in and looked around him with a slight smile.

"Thank you." Leopold's voice was full of gratitude.

King turned around to look at the boy. "For what?"

"For everything." Leo looked at the man in earnest.

"You know my dad always used to say: "boy, don't you ever thank a man for doing his job. You just make sure you do yours also."

Leo nodded.

"Hey, I was going through some of Virgil's stuff," King reached into his pocket and pulled out two ID tags on a chain, "and these are his Navy Seal ID tags." He handed them to the boy and sat down on the bed next to him. "You know Virgil was a really great warrior. When a warrior dies in battle, it's a great honor."

"Do you believe that?" Leo asked him.

"No, but Virgil did."

Leopold looked down at the tags in his hand and King placed an arm around the boy's shoulder. Tears sprung up in Leo's eyes.

"You take really good care of yourself." Latimer told him.

"Yes, sir," Leo responded.

King got up and left the room. Leopold continued to finger the ID tags. He promised to himself that he would make Virgil's life worthwhile even after the man's death. He lifted up the chain and placed it around his own neck, tucking the tags in underneath his shirt. The he walked downstairs, ready to face the world and whatever it threw at him next. And maybe, he'd have some time to practice static apnea.

**Author's Note: And that's the end. For those of you out there who haven't seen the show and are wondering what TET means, it was the private jet parking place that Leopold was taken to in order to be flown to Mexico. The letters themselves are short for Teterboro which is an airport in New Jersey. This was something that was found out during a scene in which Leo was not involved. Also, Aubrey, who is mentioned in this episode, is Leopold's older sister. Thanks for reading and please review. I love feedback. Also, if you haven't seen Kidnapped in its entirety and you have any questions regarding things that were not elaborated on enough in Leo's side of the story, please feel free to private message me.**


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